Hollywood's chosen people : the Jewish experience in American cinema / edited by Daniel Bernardi, Murray Pomerance, and Hava Tirosh-Samuelson.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Bernardi, Daniel, 1964-

Pomerance, Murray, 1946-

Tirosh-Samuelson, Hava, 1950-

Series:

Contemporary approaches to film and media series.

Contemporary approaches to film and media series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jews in motion pictures.

Jews in the motion picture industry--United States.

Jews in the motion picture industry.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (280 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Detroit : Wayne State University Press, c2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

As studio bosses, directors, and actors, Jews have been heavily involved in film history and vitally involved in all aspects of film production. Yet Jewish characters have been represented onscreen in stereotypical and disturbing ways, while Jews have also helped to produce some of the most troubling stereotypes of people of color in Hollywood film history. In "Hollywood's Chosen People: The Jewish Experience in American Cinema," leading scholars consider the complex relationship between Jews and the film industry, as Jews have helped to construct Hollywood's vision of the American dream and American collective identity and have in turn been shaped by those representations. Editors Daniel Bernardi, Murray Pomerance, and Hava Tirosh-Samuelson introduce the volume with an overview of the history of Jews in American popular culture and the American film industry. Multidisciplinary contributors go on to discuss topics such as early Jewish films and directors, institutionalized anti-Semitism, Jewish identity and gossip culture, and issues of Jewish performance on film. Contributors draw on a diverse sampling of films, from representations of the Holocaust on film to screen comedy; filmmakers and writers, including David Mamet, George Cukor, Sidney Lumet, Edward Sloman, and Steven Spielberg; and stars, like Barbra Streisand, Adam Sandler, and Ben Stiller. The Jewish experience in American cinema reveals much about the degree to which Jews have been integrated into and contribute to the making of American popular film culture. Scholars of Jewish studies, film studies, American history, and American culture as well as anyone interested in film history will find this volume fascinating reading.

Contents:

Introduction: the Hollywood question / Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, Daniel Bernardi, and Murray Pomerance

A forgotten masterpiece: Edward Sloman's His people / Lester D. Friedman

Jewish immigrant directors and their impact on Hollywood / Catherine Portuges

"A rotten bunch of vile people with no respect for anything beyond the making of money": Joseph Breen, The Hollywood Production Code, and institutionalized anti-Semitism in Hollywood / Wheeler Winston Dixon

Stardom, intermarriage, and consumption in the 1950's: the Debbie-Eddie-Liz scandal / Sumiko Higashi

Hats off to George Cukor! / William Rothman

Notes on Sontag and "Jewish moral seriousness" in American movies / Sarah Kozloff

The good German? Oskar Schindler and the movies, 1951-1993 / Peter Kramer

Representing atrocity: September 11 through the Holocaust lens / David Sterritt

David Mamet's Homicide: in or out? / Lucy Fischer

Boy-man schlemiels and super-nebishes: Adam Sandler and Ben Stiller / Vincent Brook

Who was Buddy Love?: screen performance and Jewish experience / Murray Pomerance

Assimilating Streisand: when too much is not enough / Vivian Sobchack.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 229-244) and index.

ISBN:

0-8143-3807-0

OCLC:

830023570